Marjorie M. Liu

Last night I was given the most delightful, adorable, children’s book ever.  It called Tigerbuttah, and it’s about a little tiger who goes on the most wonderful adventures through his imagination.  You can find out more about it (and buy the book, as well) from this website called Tiny Kitten Teeth.

Which is also adorable.

A Boston sunset from my window.

This blog post from White Hot Truth on the “inevitable pain of getting focused” is especially relevant today:

“When we recognize the fact that focusing can hurt, then we can face it directly, make better decisions about where we’re directing our energy, and move on more quickly toward success. The act of focusing requires contraction, ruthlessness, and deafening resolve.”

So true, but I had never thought of it in quite that way.  Focusing is hard, because it does require pulling inward, centering, yanking up the drawbridges — staving off invaders (i.e. distractions).  In any endeavor, focus is key — certainly, when you’re an artist.  How can we expect to speak to our inner dreamers when we allow — even, invite — the world to distract us with a thousand small nips (the internet, Twitter, etc)?

I know better, but I still allow my focus to wander.  And I’m afraid the cost is a deficit of dreams, those dreams that want to come true.

So, yikes!  Time to buckle down.  Time to focus inward.  Time to be aware.

Those chocolate mice are so delicious. I’m reminded of this cartoon, which I used to have on a t-shirt:

Other updates:

Here’s a lovely write-up of last week’s signing at Pandemonium. Also, you can purchase THE RED HEART OF JADE as an e-book for $1.99, which is a great deal if you’ve never read my books and want to try one of them out.

A reminder from Boing-Boing: “Aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers have two weeks left to get their applications in to this summer’s Clarion Writers’ Workshop at UC San Diego.”  I’m a graduate of Clarion (a six-week bootcamp, and unforgettable experience), and it’s an honor to be going back as one of the teachers.  Here’s the main website, if you want to take a look.

Here’s an an eight page comic from Liv Strömquist on Whitney Houston and domestic abuse, called “I Think About Whitney”.

I also have to recommend this book called YOU ARE THE CAT, which is for adults — but written in the same vein as those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books that I used to love when I was a kid.  Remember those?  Here’s the description of this great book, written and illustrated by Sherwin Tjia: Inspired by the gamebook fad of the late 80s, You Are a Cat! is both a parody and homage, focusing on a dysfunctional family, but told through the eyes of their cat. Fully a third of the book is lavishly illustrated from the feline first-person floor perspective. The different choices you make affect people and events! Even something as seemingly trivial as whether or not to purr can result in dramatic changes.

So. Much. Fun.

Finally, this gorgeous, inspirational post called “the day Teller gave me the secret to my career in magic.”  I’ve excerpted a great deal of it, but you should really read the whole thing for the full effect.

Here’s a compositional secret.  It’s so obvious and simple, you’ll say to yourself, “This man is bullshitting me.”  I am not.  This is one of the most fundamental things in all theatrical movie composition and yet magicians know nothing of it.  Ready?

Surprise me.

Here’s how surprise works.  While holding my attention, you withold basic plot information.  Feed it to me little by little.  Make me try and figure out what’s going on.  Tease me in one direction.  Throw in a false ending.  Then turn it around and flip me over.

Read Rouald Dahl.  Watch the old Alfred Hitchcock episodes.  Surprise.  Withold information.  Make them say, “What the hell’s he up to?  Where’s this going to go?” and don’t give them a clue where it’s going.  And when it finally gets there, let it land.  An ending.

Love something besides magic, in the arts.  Get inspired by a particular poet, film-maker, sculptor, composer.  You will never be the first Brian Allen Brushwood of magic if you want to be Penn & Teller.  But if you want to be, say, the Salvador Dali of magic, we’ll THERE’S an opening.

I should be a film editor.  I’m a magician.  And if I’m good, it’s because I should be a film editor.  Bach should have written opera or plays.  But instead, he worked in eighteenth-century counterpoint.  That’s why his counterpoints have so much more point than other contrapuntalists.  They have passion and plot.  Shakespeare, on the other hand, should have been a musician, writing counterpoint.  That’s why his plays stand out from the others through their plot and music.

Lovely, lovely, and lovelier still.

I’ve had the best Valentine’s Day ever.  Check out these adorable chocolate mice, which are really, truly, too cute to eat. I want to keep them in their box and make goo-goo eyes at them. Meep!

I hope all of you are having a lovely, loving, day.  Be safe, and have a sweet heart for the world — and the people — around you.

Good morning!  The writing continues, though I took a break last night to read THE WOMAN IN BLACK by Susan Hill.  One of the best ghost stories ever.  I don’t know if the movie will stack up (and while I have deep reservations about seeing a horror flick, a large group of friends are going on Sunday, so I’ll just hide in the back with my hands over my eyes if it gets to be too much).

Other things I love:

• The Lost Girl — airing on the SyFy channel.  Best show ever.  It’s like Xena, only better, and with more Fae.
• The Fades — airing on BBC America, though we bought the DVD of Season 1 and have been watching the whole thing on our own.  Tremendous storytelling, people.  The second episode was a bit rocky, but everything else is like observing a masterclass on how to do great television (with fantastic elements).
• Misfits — this also aired on BBC, but I think you can find the first season on Hulu.  Another example of exemplary storytelling (it makes most, if not all, American television look second-rate).
• The Innkeepers – a movie we watched last night — a ghost story — but not the typical slasher kind where half-dressed beauty queens run around with their jock boyfriends.  This movie is subtle, funny, and builds (and builds) until the tension sort of sings around you — so that when the ghosts do come out, you are primed, and ready to freak.

What have you been watching or reading that has got you all excited?

What a great time I had tonight at Pandemonium Books.  A wonderful group showed up (a couple bloggers, folks from MIT, locals), and we spent the next hour or so chatting — about the lack of women in comics, writing novels, Astonishing X-Men — and more.  Again, there was wonderful nerd-energy, and a lot of fun.

Now it’s back to work — writing the novel and the next issue of AXM.  Mike Perkins is killing it on the art, and our colorist, Andy Troy, is rocking out every page.  I can’t wait for you all to see the first issue.

Remember, if you live in the Boston area, I’ll be discussing novels, comics, writing, and publishing tomorrow night (February 9th) from 7-9 PM at Pandemonium Books.

In the meantime, two (kind of new) covers, from Astonishing X-Men #50 and X-23 #21, as well as a new interview from Comic Book Resources, discussing those same two books.

Keep it simple.  I always go full throttle, and it’s a struggle not to throw everything and the kitchen sink into my books (for example, the Krackeni in Soul Song and In the Dark of Dreams could have had their own series, as with the Cruor Venator in Within the Flames).   I’m trying to learn how to pace my ideas (though it’s not as simple as telling myself, “Make it so.”), especially as this new paranormal romance that I’m writing works as the beginning of a trilogy — thus, there’s room to spread out.

There’s room to spread out, I keep thinking, again and again.

Boston has been having beautiful weather for the last few days — not too cold, mostly sunny skies.  I’m surrounded by books at the moment, loads and tons and towers of books, and it’s a lovely feeling to look up and see them.  It’s just like home.

This is a very sad article from the New York Times about Anthony Horton — graphic novelist, artist, homeless — who died in a fire that consumed his underground home beneath the city.

I’m in Boston at the moment, and next week on February 9th from 7-9 PM I’m signing and discussing writing/comics/publishing at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge, MA.

Also, a preview for Part 2 of the Tiger Eye video game (called Tiger Eye: The Sacrifice) just went live at Gamezebo.  I wasn’t involved with this latest release, but key members of the old team designed the game play and story.  From what I can see of the background shots, it’s looking pretty cool.  If you aren’t familiar with the Tiger Eye game, check out the PassionFruit website for more information or play the first hour free at Big Fish Games.

@jcmarsh17 asks: is astonishing x-men going to be a crossover for the upcoming #AvX event?

Nope, sorry.

This is a sampling of the music I’ve been listening to as I write my latest novel.  Melodic, moody, quick, slow: a mix of light and dark notes.  Like the story itself, though that’s evolving.  I know some people can’t listen to music (especially with lyrics) when they write, but I can’t live without it.  It puts me in a trance, an entirely different state that lets me access parts of my emotional mind that would otherwise be more difficult to uproot and drag onto the page.

What (and who) do you listen to?